Bonding
by Winter Blake
Summary: When Bruce is away Tim is forced to take care of Damian. It is no secret that the two do not get along but will an incident at school help the two brothers bond?


**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

Tim was at the manor working on a case when Alfred came into the cave with a phone in his hand.

"Master Damian's school is calling. Apparently there was a fight."

Tim muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "demon spawn" before he nodded as thanks to Alfred and took the phone from the elderly man.

"Hello?" he said, putting on his 'professional voice'.

"Hello this is Christopher Ellis the dean of Damian's elementary school. Am I speaking to Mr. Wayne?"

"He is out of town for the time being on a business trip. This is his brother."

"Are you the one taking care of him while your father is away?"

"Yes," Tim said, unsure if it was the truth or not. Tim supposed he was looking out for the little devil while Bruce was off world saving the earth from destruction, but so was Alfred. He wondered if he should give the phone to Alfred, but it was to late now.

"Well your brother has gotten into a fight with one of the students."

_Oh no what did he do?_

"May I ask what happened?" said Tim politely, while thinking of a million things to yell at Damian about later.

"Well the boy your brother punched, Nathan, says it was unprovoked," this did not surprise Tim in the least, "but Damian claims that Nathan was harassing him and punched him first."

Tim felt something in his stomach that he did not want to let himself acknowledge- it was much too similar to protectiveness. "Did he say what Nathan was harassing him about?"

"According to Damian, Nathan was making rude remarks regarding your father and… your, how should I put it… wealth."

Suddenly Tim understood and nodded, even though the dean could not see him. "I'll be right over to the school to pick Damian up." Tim turned off the phone without so much as a goodbye and left the cave to collect Damian from school.

…

Tim had a few fond memories of Dick picking him up from school on his bike. He smiled a little remembering the first time Dick had come to get him and the stares he had received from the other children. Tim had never been a particularly popular kid. He had kept mostly to himself, and had no real friends. As he had gotten older and almost his entire life dominated by his job as Robin, Tim had lost any friends he might have once laid claim to. He had been a straight A student but not because he tried, or got all of his homework in. He was simply a genius and school had always been much too easy for him. Some of the boys in high school had picked on him, and after Bruce had adopted him it had intensified. The boys had been jealous of Tim being adopted by the billionaire and obviously envied him, so they took out their insecurities on Tim. He'd let himself get beaten up by boys on several occasions because if he defended himself he could blow his cover (and anyway he'd gotten _much_ worse from villains a lot more dangerous then a couple of stupid kids).

Tim guessed that something similar had happened to Damian- but Damian was not the type to let himself get pulverized so he could keep his identity a secret. Tim didn't begrudge him this surprisingly. Tim understood what it was like to be bullied, and he didn't like the idea of Damian lying down letting himself get beaten like Tim had. Tim now understood why Dick had gotten so angry and him when he let himself get beaten up.

Tim arrived at the school, parked his bike and entered the building. He saw a little girl around Damian's age in the empty hall (presumably walking from the bathroom back to class) and approached her.

"Excuse me," he said with a smile, "I'm looking for the dean's office, Mr. Ellis. Do you know where it is?"

The girl blinked up at him, probably recognizing him from the tabloids. "Uh… yeah. It's down that hallways straight ahead, and then turn left. The offices are there. The door has a sign that says Dean's Office so you can't miss it."

"Thanks."

He walked quickly down the hall and found Mr. Ellis's office easily. He knocked once before opening the door to see a middle aged man sitting at his desk, and two boys and a women sitting in chairs facing the man. Damian turned when he heard the door open and scowled when he saw Tim.

"Drake," he growled out. Tim couldn't make himself mind however, because one look at Damian's face, and noting the developing black eye, Tim was fighting the urge to not beat up the stupid ten year old who beat up his brother.

Whoa… when had the demon spawn become his brother?

A little boy turned in his chair to look at Tim and Tim managed to keep his face blank. The little boy's cheek was already bruised and it looked as if he had been crying. The lady beside him, presumably his mother, also turned to face Tim and scowled at him. Tim instantly did not like the lady.

He took a seat in-between Damian and Nathan's mother. He didn't bother to greet Mr. Ellis, deciding it was more important to check out Damian's face before he spoke to anyone.

Intellectually he knew that Damian had faced much worse from a ten-year-old boy, and had gotten much worse. Tim still felt the need to take Damian's face in his hands and examine the black eye. "Can you see alright?" Tim asked worriedly. Kon always teased Tim that he was secretly a mother hen inside, and dammit, apparently the bastard was right. Something he would _never_ admit out loud of course. "Double vision, anything hazy, headache, mi-"

"_Drake_," Damian said in an annoyed and slightly embarrassed tone. He pulled away from Tim who just shook his head, deciding that if Damian was acting like his usual prick self he was fine enough.

Tim turned his attention to the other occupants of the room and held out this hand to the dean who took it. "I'm Tim Drake, Damian's brother," he said.

"I'm glad you were able to come."

"Of course."

"Is there anyway however that we can contact your father? He should probably be infor-"

"No I'm afraid he cannot be reached," Tim said quickly.

"Right… How old are you young man? Shouldn't you be in school?" Mr. Ellis asked, and Tim just smiled tightly.

"I've received my GED. I work at Wayne Enterprises," he said stiffly. He still looked fairly young for his age, and it didn't help that he hadn't changed before he left to pick of Damian. His jeans were old and ratty, his t-shirt was not much better, and Tim seriously doubted the motorcycle boots helped him much either. He always tried to look presentable when meeting people, but he had figured he was just going to have a day researching, not having a conference at Damian's school.

"Well this young man is out of control!" The mother shrieked, looking accusingly at Damian. "Look what he did to my poor baby's face!"

"_Mom_," Nathan said under his breath. It took everything in Tim to not role his eyes.

"Well look what your son did to my brother," Tim countered.

Tim didn't need to be looking at Damian to know he was scowling.

Tim took a deep breath before saying, "Look both of the boys got into a fight and it was wrong of both of them. Why don't we just-"

"Oh no!" The mother said loudly in an annoyingly shrill voice. "Just because your daddy is Bruce Wayne does not mean that his son doesn't have to be punished for doing something wrong!"

"I'm not saying he should not be punished, but your son also has to shoulder some of the blame as well," Tim said calmly. "He was harassing Damian after all."

"Nathan did no such thing!"

"According to Damian-" Tim said when Damian cut him off.

"Nathan has been bothering me since school began!" he proclaimed.

"Perhaps we should talk just the three of us," Mr. Ellis suggested. "The boys can go wait-"

"I will _not_ be sent away like some stupid child," Damian said haughtily. Tim wanted to smack the boy upside the head. Tim was trying to get the boy from being expelled, and the kid was not helping his case by acting like his normal bratty self.

"No, no!" Nathan's mother said, Tim realized she had never introduced herself, "Nathan and I are leaving! And if Damian is not expelled from the school I will take it up with the board!" She stood up with her son, and left the room slamming the door behind her.

Tim stared at the door in shock for a minute. He turned to Damian who was hiding his shock well but Tim could tell it was there.

_You know you're bad if Damian thinks you're a spoiled bitch._

"Damian would you go wait outside for just a moment. I would like to speak to your brother alone," said Mr. Ellis, breaking the silence.

"Drake is not my brother," Damian huffed. "He is simply a stray my father picked up and adopted."

"Damian," Tim said quietly but firmly. "Go wait outside."

"You can't tell me what to do!"

"Bruce left you with me. While he is away I can do whatever I want with you. Now go wait outside." He gave Damian his best bat glare knowing it would not faze the kid in the slightest.

Damian just made a "Tt" sound and walked out, not doubt standing outside the door to listen to the conversation about to take place.

Mr. Ellis cleared his throat awkwardly. "Do not worry about Mrs. Johnston. Nathan has ended up in this office before and she always threatens to take things up with the board. Now about Damian, while I do believe that Nathan started the fight, I will have to punish him. He will be suspended for one week. I don't see any need to do more than that. I normally would not do even this but I cannot risk Mrs. Johnston starting a commotion."

"Of course," Tim said. "Is that all? I would like to take Damian home now."

"Yes, yes, you may leave. Thank you for coming."

"It was no trouble," Tim said. He got up and left the room.

"You hear that Damian?" said Tim to Damian. He knew the kid had been listening in. "I guess your going to be with me in the manor for a week." Tim started walking quickly and he could hear Damian following behind him.

The two heroes said nothing as they walked to the parking lot and Tim lead Damian to his bike.

"Hop on," Tim said to Damian as he himself got on the bike.

"You are not going to yell at me?" Damian questioned. "I punched that kid. I assumed you would be angry."

Tim just shook his head. "Come on. I'll take you to get some food before we head home."

Damian looked at Tim as if he had grown three heads, but got onto the bike and did not argue about having to hold on to Tim as he drove away.

…

Tim didn't speak until they were both in the diner and had ordered their food.

"I'm surprised the kid managed to get you."

"Tt. It was a lucky shot. I didn't expect the pussy to actually hit me."

Tim had to force himself not to laugh, but a smirk did manage its way onto his lips. "You showed a lot of restraint today Damian."

Damian looked genuinely confused at that. "Excuse me? I thought you would be mad because I hit him?"

"You only hit him once. That's a lot for you. I'm sure you wanted to hit him a lot more then you did."

"Yes, I did… Aren't you going to ask me why he hates me?"

Tim shook his head. "No, I assume it's the reason I got beaten up in school as well. Kids are jealous and having Bruce Wayne as your father doesn't help. They take out their insecurities on you, and they're jealous because of how much you have."

"You were beaten up in school?"

"Yeah. But I didn't fight back like you. I figured it would be better for my cover if I just took it."

"It is understandable why people did not like you," Damian said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Thanks Damian."

"You're welcome."

"So what do you want?"

"I already had lunch at school."  
"Then order desert. I'm sure they have ice cream, or pie or something."

"Can I have both?"

Suddenly Tim can't see the touch exterior Damian put's on, and he only sees a ten-year-old boy excited about eating junk food. He see's his brother.

"Sure," Tim answers with a smile.

**R&R please **


End file.
